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Going to have a little road trip next month with a couple of mates.
For some reason, I decided that Dunkeld might be a good area to stay in (camping)
Is this a good idea?
It looks like there are some good trails around there, Ben Cathro 'stays' there I believe and always has some good stuff in his vids, Comrie Croft is near I think?
We also want to get across to Fort Bill and ride the dh and red trails etc, plus Laggan and anything else we can find around there.
Would Dunkeld be a reasonable base for Mcgnar?
Definitely, some cracking trail. Nice town too. I'm sure there will be loads of vids from the SES rounds.
You could easily spend 2 or 3 days just riding Dunkeld itself
Dunkeld has craploads. From tricky to how the hell do I get down there..
Trail.Forks shows most of them.
Comrie is superb man made, laggan again superb man made and some natural. The natural stuff at aviemore is also a delight and a couple days in itself.
Not sure how long your road trip is or where you are coming from?
But if it was me a a group of mates I'd go with,
Dunkeld
Laggan
Aviemore
All off the a9.
You could then head over fort William direction, fort bill gondola laps and either head north to torridon or south to kinloch leven/glen Coe.
There's more at Pitlochry too; plenty of choice including Riviera which is tricky and fun, plus Jalfrezi is er, 'spicy'! Well worth a look if you're staying locally.
Big mountain rides include the classic Glen Tilt circuit around Bein a Ghlo, best done anti-clockwise.
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/scottish-highlands-road-trip-top-ten-mtb-rides/
I asked a similiar question a bit back
I wouldn't travel that far.
Base yourself in Pitlochry (more to do in evening).
Ride Dunkeld.
Ride up Ben Vrackie and local Pitlochry gnar.
Ride Laggan.
Ride up Carn Liath - Munro summit to bottom car park via the Fall Line.
Go back to Dunkeld.
That's 5 full days.
Wicked suggestions folks 👌 Excited now.
We'll be going for about a week I think. Potentially might go via somewhere as traveling up from the Midlands.
I've ridden at laggan before and loved it. It's quite tricky as trail centres go. Looking forward to a revisit.
Was thinking maybe go via Kielder on the way up or something. Stay a night and get used to the midgies. 😵
Got the week off this week and Dunkeld is on my radar having dipped my pedals there for a couple of hours last year only thing that worries me is riding on my own on the super tech steep stuff anyone up there this week and any places to camp nearby in a van that is reasonable
Rich
Sorry if this is a thread hijack/diversion- @postierich- I’m heading up to Torridon way tomorrow, (Weds 10th) for a few days riding with local friend. I’m thinking of riding at Dunkeld on the way back,(Sunday/Monday 14-15th). Is that any use for you? I’d also be riding alone, and could do with company on the steeper stuff!
Not great camping options at Dunkeld if any?
Rich - it's also the school holidays up here so campsites can be busy/noisy. If you are tempted to go to Faskally at Pitlochry, just don't....
Dunkeld is a cracking wee town if you ride a bike although if the midges dont get in the evening the clegs will in the forest if the sun comes out
This is where we're staying I think. No idea what it's like.
https://www.ecocampglenshee.co.uk/
Clegs will get you
Um....what are Clegs? Bit scared now.. 🙂
Not far from possibly the easiest two Munros there are with good views to the Cairngorms on a good day. Glen Clova drive to the carpark, up the hill a wee bit round loch mick and back o'er the Capel Mounth will give you a cracking mountainbike run
Not great camping options at Dunkeld if any?
Proper campsite next on the hermitage side.
For van camping, the cally car park is the go to spot
This is where we’re staying I think. No idea what it’s like.
> https://www.ecocampglenshee.co.uk/
It’s lovely up there, but a trek (30 mins +) from Dunkeld and so not a great location for access to Laggan & Fort William.
clegs - horseflies
Thanks for the translation Tj 😉
This is where we’re staying I think. No idea what it’s like.
https://www.ecocampglenshee.co.uk/
It’s lovely up there, but a trek (30 mins +) from Dunkeld and so not a great location for access to Laggan & Fort William.
Oh well, when you're not familiar with the area and it's the best part of 7 hours away, anywhere on the same page of the map looks near. I don't mind a little extra travelling through such a stunning area. 🙂
I’m sure you’ll have a great time. It might be worth looking at some of the riding around the eastern Cairngorms - routes around Braemore / Ballater too.
Re Dunkeld, The Taybank has a new Chef and the Aran Bakery (Flora off Bake off) is very good. Not a fan of the fish and chip shop (although many are) and the deli is ok for sandwiches. The Birnam Institute used to be ok for day time food too.
Postierich, I'll be riding there next week and am pretty local. Drop me a line on Mac McLaren 4 at hotmail for com
Been here since Monday and today(Friday) is our last full riding day. Lost a day travelling and setting up going via Kielder on the way and driving through Edinburgh etc.
We rode Dunkeld up the Birnham side doing Pink Floyd and Rack and Ruin. Both awesome, Rack and Ruin was a bit mellower considering the gnarly push up. We then did a few shorter blacks, electric beaver, Dan's trail etc. Got soaked.
Went to Laggan. I'd been years ago but me and my mate were giggling our way around the black. So fun and such different riding to our normal. We then did upper and lower reds and the blue a few times. I had 3 snakebite flats that day. Starting to doubt my trusty Butcher/Purg combo. Great day riding. We were going to look at the stuff over the road but legs were empty.
Went to Fort Bill yesterday. Sadly when we got there they were not letting bikes on the gondola due to high winds.
We rode a few reds and blues, then rode bits of the World Cup track and generally stood agog at how fast the top riders get down that stuff 😲
We rode up as high as we could then two of us went hikeabike, crossed moorland and raging burns in hurricane winds to get up onto Top Chief. Rode that down which was a bit like falling off a twisty cliff. I had another snakebite flat and so held back a lot to avoid a walk. Then we went up and wanged the blue a couple of times.
The driving has been knackering, beautiful though it is but I can't face going over Laggan/Fort Bill way again. Turns out our campsite really isn't best placed geographically or in terms of convenience with daily soaked and muddy kit.
Yeah so last day today. Can't decide between Dunkeld again but trying to explore a different area, perhaps hermitage or maybe try that longer xc route on the other side, that, or go to Comrie Croft.
Any opinion folks? 👊
Comrie isn't too different from Laggan so if you enjoyed that it's definitely worth a visit. Singlespeed champs there this weekend but I think you'll be ok today. If you're talking about Loch Ordie loop I wouldn't bother, from memory there's one pretty boggy section and that might be the only singletrack. Try the Atholl hill trails? There's quite a good loop from Pitlochry to Loch Tummel that gets you out into the hills and has some fun bits.
If you do Dunkeld today give me a wave - I am in my living room looking at the top of Birnam hill right now. I'd come and ride with you but I'm not well at the moment 🙁
head along the road into Ballater and do some riding there, Heart Break Ridge and Master Blaster should be riding ok now.
Or the Loch Muick loop dropping into Glen Doll and climb back out again to Loch Muick
https://www.trailforks.com/route/loch-muick-loop/ This but start end at the Loch Muick carp park instead (its £4 parking fee)
Both are good options, but I'd go for a different area of Dunkeld.
Glad you've enjoyed your trip!
Glad you've had a good trip. There is so much riding to do it's difficult to justify driving to different places, but also good to see the variety.
The UK Singlespeed champs are at Comrie this weekend, so I know some of the trails are shut. It might be worth giving Colin & the guys at the shop a call before traveling. https://www.comriecroftbikes.co.uk/
I'd head round Loch Oride for a gentle spin and then tag on the Atholl Hill trails by going down secret beaver. For me, the twa dugs trail is a bit better than yer maw. I'm just not a good enough rider for that. Funnily enough, that is what I'm planning to do this Sunday.
Cheers for the suggestions folks. As it turned out, our dog has taken a turn for the worse and so I basically just drove 8 hours back to Warwickshire to help with things.
Still, . I'll be back for sure. What a gem of a place it is up in those parts..
One thing we all noticed, there wasn't many Scottish people there. Nearly everyone we came across seemed to be from somewhere besides Scotland.. Ah well. 😂👍
Nearly everyone we came across seemed to be from somewhere besides Scotland
And I'm refusing to leave....
Nearly everyone we came across seemed to be from somewhere besides Scotland.. Ah well.
Guilty as charged, come back soon and I hope your dog is ok.
Cheers. It's not but it's been on the cards.
👍
One thing we all noticed, there wasn’t many Scottish people there. Nearly everyone we came across seemed to be from somewhere besides Scotland.. Ah well. 😂👍
Our schools went back last week, many schools, Glasgow included, were the week before, that's why.
And I’m refusing to leave…
+1